Hello, I am using windows server backups in the backup once mode. I use this, so that I do not need to dedicate a entire disk for backups alone. I want to go and delete older backups, butI do not see option in the server backup mmc or wbadmin commands. Can someone please tell me a how to delete backups? Thanks, Anesh.

Hi Anesh, If you want to delete the system state backup, you may use "wbadmin delete systemstatebackup" in command line.If you want to delete all backups that on the server, you may use "wbadmin delete catalog" in command line. If you want to delete backups which are not system state backup, unfortunately, we do not have a way to do so currently. However, our product group has realized that this function is useful and they is working on to design and define this feature. This function is planned to be included in the next version of Windows. To help us create products that meet customer real needs, could you please provide the following information so that we can understand the requirement better: 1. Could you please tell us know why you want to delete the backups? 2. Is it for freeing space / lost dvds containing backups / backups no longer required?

Hi David, Thank you for your prompt reply. Your response is helpful. As I indicated in my original post, I want to free up space by phasing out (deleting) the older backups. Thanks again, Anesh.

Hello,Can you say whether or not WBADMIN has been updated to delete non-systemstate backups?I tried a "wbadmin delete catalog", but this did not free up the disk space. It would be useful if, when WBADMIN is updated, that when a specific backup job is deleted, the corresponding diskspace is freed up as well.

David, I can tell you why I want to delete backups. We're using Windows Server Backup to take full volume snapshots. The disk is running out of space. It would be nice to have the option to specify how many to keep, like the wbadmin delete systemstatebackup -keepversions:5 (or however many desired). We're running Server 2008, not R2. Was this ability included in R2? If yes, can I update to it?Bruce Wilkinson